Ear protector



Nov. 12, 1957 1 F. E. BOGART ETAL 7 2,812,517

I EAR PRoTEc'roR Filed Feb. 21. 1955 s'ig, l

- INVENTORS Frances E. Boa art- Gladys Grams V A'ITORNI? United States Patent fiice il-2 3 ,13

EAR PROTECTOR Frances E. Bogart and Gladys'Grarns, Detroit, Mich. Application February 21, 1955,- Serial No. 489,545

4 Claims. (Cl. 2-174) This invention relates to ear protectors for excluding liquids, dust, or other particles from the ears. Such protectors are particularly desirable during certain hair treatments, as shampoos, permanent waving, and tinting.

An object of the invention is to provide a pair of earcovering protectors with pockets on their exterior faces, and to insert in such pockets the ends of an approximately U-shaped elongated spring proportioned to extend beneath the chin or otherwise straddle the head, said ends carrying pads for applying pressure of the spring to the ears, and said pockets predetermining" the ear areas to receive such pressure.

Another object is to so position the pockets on the protectors that the padded spring ends inserted in the pockets will take localized effect on the tragus portions of the ears and thus inwardly flex such portions to employ them as closures for the passages leading from outer to inner ears.

Another object is to adapt the padded ends of the U spring for ready insertion in or removal from the pockets, so that the spring may be applied after the protectors have been properly fitted to the ears, and so that under some conditions, the protectors may be used without the spring.

Another object is to form an ear protector from a flexible blank of sheet material by extending a freely flexible wire through a series of apertures formed marginally of the sheet, the margin then being puckered and confined to a materially shortened portion of the wire and being thus drawn in and conformed to the periphery of an ear.

Another object is to adapt the end portions of said wire to apply a slight inward pressure to the protector to assist in maintaining its proper engagement with an ear.

These and various other objects are attained by the construction as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows in side elevation a human ear.

Fig. 2 is a view in medial sectional elevation, taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 4, of a protector shaped from sheet material to cover and conform to the ear shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an exterior side elevational view of one of our improved protectors.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the protector, taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an interior side elevational view of the protector.

Fig. 6 perspectively shows a spring for interconnecting and applying pressure to a pair of the protectors.

Fig. 7 shows a blank of sheet material as engaged by a wire preliminary to fashioning to a protector form.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the illustrated human ear 1 is joined to the head along the curved line 2 as well as at the front of the ear, and a flexible lobe 3 known as the tragus projects rearwardly from the front of the ear about midway of the ear height, the passage (not shown) to the inner ear being covered by the tragus. Our improved protector is shaped from a sheet of soft flexible waterproof fabric such as is available in various plastics. From hands of a hair dresser from the wire ends.

such a sheet there is cut the blank 4 (Fig. 7) approximating the outer peripheral curvature of a human ear, but predeterminedly larger than such an ear. Interrupting the curved periphery of the blank are a pair of oppositely projecting flaps 5 and 6 for a purpose hereinafter explained. Adjoining its margin, the blank 4 is formed with a series of spaced perforations 7 through which is slidably threaded a suitably curved length of freely flexible wire 8 having portions disposed alternately at opposite sides of the blank and having its end portions adjoining the flap 5. The curved extent of'the wire 8 is now materially decreased by pulling the exposed end portions thereof toward each other, whereby the wire-mounting portion of the blank is puckered or gathered as it is drawn in toward the center of the blank, with a resultant formation of inner and outer walls 9 and 10 interconnected by a peripheral wall 11. The peripheral wall will now roughly conform to the outer periphery of the human ear and the inner margin of the wall 9 will roughly conform to the juncture 2 (Fig. 1). To maintain the formation thus simply established, the end portions of the wire are looped, as appears at 12, against the exterior face of the outer wall 10, thus anchoring said portions and maintaining the desired contracted form of the wire and of the wall 9 mounting the wire. The end portions ofthe wire are bent to apply a slight inward pressure to the wall 10 and such portions terminally carry rounded beads 13 which protect the The flaps 5 and 6 facilitate manipulation of the protector in fitting the latter on an ear, the flap 5 projecting forwardly from the applied protector and the flap 6 projecting rearwardly in a lapped relation to the wall 9 as appears in dash lines in Fig. 5.

To hold a pair of the described protectors in place and to apply a desired localized pressure to the ears through the protectors, there is employed an elongated spring 14 of approximate U shape and proportioned to extend beneath the chin of a person using the protectors. To the inner faces of the ends of such spring are applied a pair of pads 15 preferably having rounded outer ends and formed of a somewhat resilient material such as rubber or cork. Such pads may be cemented, vulcanized, or otherwise permanently secured to the spring ends. The pads are proportioned to transmit pressure to the tragus portions 3 of the ears, and it is an important feature of the construction that pockets 16 for receiving the padded spring ends are so proportioned and so exteriorly located on the walls 10 as to predetermine a relation of the spring ends to the tragus portions of the ears, localizing applied spring pressure to such portions. The pockets 16 and the pads slip-fitted therein are slightly elongated along the spring ends to resist any tendency of the spring to swing relative to the protectors and thus detract from the desired localization of pressure. The lower ends of the pockets are open for the admission or withdrawal of the padded ends. It will be evident from preceding description that there is a vital relation between shaping the protectors to establish and maintain their conforming relation to the ears and so locating the pockets on the protectors as to predetermine the areas receiving spring pressure. Thus the tragus portions of the ears must receive such pressure and are hence inwardly deflected to block the passages to the inner ears and prevent access of liquids to such passages.

In addition to their function of assuring application of spring pressure to the tragus of each ear, the pockets 16 substantially eliminate any lodging of hair tresses between the spring and protectors, and safeguard the hands of a hair dresser from impact with the spring ends. It will be appreciated also that the spring 14 assists materially in holding the protectors properly engaged with the ears,

3 while applying the required localized pressure to the ears.

Detachability of the spring from the protectors is highly desirable since each protector may thus be properly fitted on an ear without interference resulting either from the spring or other protector. When the two protectors are in place, both hands of the hair dresser are free to effect insertion of the spring ends in the pockets.

separability of the spring and protectors also permits use of the latter when desired independently of the spring. Thus when the hair is being dried, as is common, by applying a blast of heated air, the protectors alone may be worn to shield the ears from the heated air and to largely exclude sound vibrations from the ears.

In applying the described protectors, the free flexibility of the wire 8 is an asset, perrnittingthe effective length of such wire to be increased or diminished slightly, if necessary, to more accurately conform the protector to an engaged ear.

The protectors are sufficiently inexpensive to permit discarding same, if desired, after a single use thereof.

What we claim is:

1. The combination with a pair of ear protectors each having an outer and inner wall and a peripheral wall, the outer wall being shaped and proportioned to cover and substantially conform to a human ear, the inner wall being approximately G-shaped to conform to and freely fit the juncture of such ear and the corresponding head, and the peripheral wall interconnecting the outer periphery of the inner wall to the outer wall, whereby the paired protectors may be located in a desired covering location to a pair of cars, of a pair of pockets respectively attached to the outer walls of the respective protectors, and disposed and proportioned to register with and occupy an outwardly spaced relation to the tragus portions of the ears to which the protectors are applied, such pockets having openings directed toward the peripheries of the protectors, and a substantially U-shaped spring proportioned to straddle the head of a person using the paired protectors, the ends of such spring being inserted in the pockets, through said openings and substantially fitting the pockets, whereby said ends are required by the pockets to apply a pressure of the spring solely to the tragus portions of the ears for closing the passages to the inner ears.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1, said pockets being attached to the outer faces of said outer walls.

3. In the combination set forth in claim 1, a pair of pads respectively carried by the inner faces of the spring ends and disposed substantially within said pockets and adapted to apply the desired spring pressure to the tragus portions.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 1, said openings affording admission of the spring ends to and their withdrawal from the pockets.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 316,029 Gillespie Apr. 21, 1885 1,297,742 Shorrock Mar. 18, 1919 1,909,856 Dolder May 16, 1933 2,060,553 Burleigh Nov. 10, 1936 2,118,273 Smith May 24, 1938 2,198,546 Lover et al Apr. 23, 1940 2,570,675 Morris Oct. 9, 1951 2,700,162 Fuller Jan. 25, 1955 

